Book #177 of 2017: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon In the late 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt rejected a government proposal to establish a settlement for Jewish refugees within America’s Alaskan Territory. The U.S. instead largely blocked Jewish immigration, and ultimately over six million European Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Author Michael Chabon …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon”
Book #19 of 2017: The Victim by Saul Bellow When an antisemitic acquaintance accuses Asa Leventhal of ruining his life, the New York City Jew brushes off the accusation to focus on a recent family tragedy. But the gentiles in his life are quick to take his accuser’s side, to the point where Leventhal begins …
Book #79 of 2016: The Golem of Hollywood by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman (Detective Jacob Lev #1) The Golem of Hollywood reads like a Jewish version of American Gods, as written by someone like Michael Connelly. It’s a strange genre mashup, mixing a police investigation of a serial killer with elements of Judaic mythology …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Golem of Hollywood by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman”
Book #52 of 2016: Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones This book is very well-written, and it excels at bringing these characters and 1970s Atlanta to life. I don’t go for literary fiction all that often, but I couldn’t resist this premise, of two black girls growing up in the same town with the same father, …
Continue reading “Book Review: Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones”
Book #51 of 2016: The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (The Star-Touched Queen #1) The Star-Touched Queen is about a young princess who gets saved from death through a marriage to a mysterious stranger, followed by her quest to save him from a force of evil once his secrets finally come out. It’s really a …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi”
Book #17 of 2016: Dawn by Octavia E. Butler (Xenogenesis #1) Dawn is the first novel in a trilogy by Octavia Butler, known alternately as Lilith’s Brood and Xenogenesis. This first book was good, albeit a little bleak. (But, I mean, it’s from the author of the Parable books, Kindred, and Fledgling. Bleakness was not …
Book #15 of 2016: Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler I really really liked this one. I mean, its main character is a black female vampire in an interracial polyamorous coven, whose dark skin is actually an advantage because it lets her burn more slowly in the sunlight than other vamps. What’s not to love? And …
Continue reading “Book Review: Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler”
Book #58 of 2015: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler An unflinching and unsettling look at the horrors of slavery, as seen through the eyes of a modern-day black woman suddenly transported back to antebellum America. Dana cannot control the strange forces that send her back in time, nor can she avoid getting caught up in …
Continue reading “Book Review: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more